I don't know about you, but I'm not a very big fan of the holidays. I get that it's supposed to be this "special time" for families to come together and feel warm fuzzy feelings and all that, but I get along great with my family every day of the year. I don't need one particular day preceded by a month of cheesy music, crowded roads and retail establishments absolutely swarming with people spending money they don't have.

Really, I don't.

For me, the holidays are more about avoiding malls and shopping centers, having my regular places of business take on new, inconvenient schedules, and having my productivity plummet as the entire world basically checks out until the new year. For a freelancer like myself, December is not seen as a month-long vacation, it's a giant dead zone where I'm not earning much money and my normal routine goes out the window.

As a result, I feel like time is flying by and I'm really not getting much done… new entries at this blog aren't coming as often, I haven't turned in as many reviews as I usually do, keeping up with e-mail and Twitter has been next to impossible, and I haven't touched my next novel in a week or two.

You might feel differently, but I've had more than enough of the holidays already. Bring on January!!

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Games: As I'm sure you might guess from the bit above, I haven't had a whole lot of time to devote to straight-up gameplaying. What little time I have had has been going to A World of Keflings on XBLA, and it's been time well spent. I'm working on a review for it at the moment, but I haven't rolled credits yet.

In the meantime, I can say that it is better than the original (A Kingdom for Keflings) in every way, and is a pretty outstanding choice for family-oriented gaming. If you're even remotely interested in the demo or the subject matter, it's basically a no-brainer purchase. Kudos to NinjaBee for another winner.

Otherwise, I've only been getting in little snatches of time with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The oldest and I have been teaming up with has been great (local co-op with two PSP’s) and I am slowly, slowly, slowly but surely driving on towards the end of the single-player campaign.

At this point I have passed the 100-hour mark, and the fact that I'm still playing it definitely says something about both the quality of the game and the OCD-ness that can strike me when I find the right material.

In other games news, I'm glad to say that my 2010 Top 10 is essentially done. With only a few weeks left in the year, I'm pretty confident that nothing else is going to shake up the current ranking I’ve assembled. While on the topic, it's also worth mentioning that GameCritics has just chosen its Game of the Year for 2010, and it will be announced at the end of the next podcast. It's already recorded and in the can, only awaiting a few final edits before it goes live.

It might be a somewhat controversial pick, but I can say that I am satisfied with what came out on top.

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TV: Just one final note... We introduced Dr. Who to the oldest for the very first time, and to our pleasant surprise, he loved it. ﻿ I'm so proud.

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I'm with you on the holidays thing. Being Jewish and all, I've always resented the in-your-faceness of Christmas and the awkward greeting where people would wish me a "merry Christmas." Do I tell them I'm Jewish, or smile and nod? I used to do the former, then just got lazy and didn't want to make other people feel bad so I've taken to the latter. Either way is uncomfortable.

It's maybe a blessing in disguise though. It's bad enough to have a dirth of work in Dec, but to also have to spend extra dough on gifts? Forget it. My family doesn't do gifts anymore and I've never done holiday gifts with friends. Fun as it is to get stuff, it's not worth the headache and wallet massacre to buy people stuff they don't want that much. I mean if they wanted something that badly they would have just bought it already. Kids of course, being the exception. But for grown ass men like myself, it's a pain.

But hey, lack of work aside, I am enjoying the free time and game sales, so there's that.